Of the $4.56 billion spent by tourists, $3.67 billion was spent by foreigners and the rest by Turkish nationals living abroad and visiting the country, data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) released on Thursday revealed.
A main reason behind this increase, sector analysts point out, could be the abolition of visa requirements with several different countries, including Syria, Libya, Serbia, Tanzania and Jordan. The results also proved wrong the perception that tourism revenues would drop due to a significant reduction in the number of Israeli tourists coming. It was earlier believed that a deadly Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound flotilla that claimed lives of eight Turkish nationals and one Turkish-American would affect the number of Israelis visiting Turkey.
According to the TurkStat survey, the majority of spending was done by independent tourists rather those who came as part of a tour. Only $1.02 billion spent in the second quarter was by tourists visiting Turkey with an organized tour group.
The TurkStat release showed that foreign tourists spent an average of 7.9 nights in Turkey, while average per-person spending by this group was $480. Turkish nationals residing abroad, on the other hand, stayed 22 nights on average in Turkey and spent approximately $1,212 per person -- almost three times the amount spent by foreign tourists.
The number of visitors leaving the country was around 8.37 million in the second quarter, with 7.64 million of them being identified as foreign tourists, while the rest were Turkish expatriates living abroad.
The spending of residents leaving the country for vacation was also on the rise in the second quarter, registering a 24.8 percent increase to $1.17 billion. Each Turkish tourist abroad spent an average of $683 on their journey.
